The Devil's Daughter (Hidden Sins #1)(24)

Maybe I should give Eden a crack at them. She’s pretty enough to have the boys eating out of the palm of her hand, and that might be enough to get someone to talk.

He rubbed a hand across his mouth. Even if he trusted her, that wasn’t a possible avenue to pursue. She couldn’t be involved in any aspect of the investigation. He was already toeing the line with having her poke around out in Elysia, but his options were dwindling by the minute. Every hour Neveah stayed missing increased the chance she’d never be found.

Or never found alive.

Needing movement, he headed for Hakeem’s on foot. The crisp fall evening felt damn good after being indoors all day. He paid attention as he headed down the street, but there wasn’t much in the way of foot traffic. There should have been. Clear Springs might be mostly families with kids of varying ages, but there was a decent-size portion of the population past retirement age. Local fishing and hunting had brought them through the area when they were younger, and quite a few had decided to stay for good once they were out of the workforce. All that added up to folks being out and about and hobnobbing during the evening hours on the main street. The Monday-night book-club ladies usually met at the little coffee shop around this time, but when he walked past, it was deserted.

A murder does that to a town.

He walked into Hakeem’s and saw the man the restaurant was named after. He was tall and lean to the point where he almost looked like he’d fold in half without warning. He offered Zach an easy smile and nod. “Sheriff.”

Zach returned the nod of greeting. “How’s it going?”

Hakeem shrugged. “I hear there is a murderer on the loose.” He had a faint accent that turned the words beautiful despite their meaning.

“We’re going to find whoever did it.”

“I have the utmost faith in you.” He finished tying the plastic bag around two disposable containers. “Dinner for two?”

“Business, unfortunately.”

Hakeem raised thick black brows. “Times like these, Sheriff, you must find comfort where you can.”

It was suddenly too easy to picture finding comfort with Eden Collins. She was a beautiful woman with her honeyed hair and whiskey eyes, and she had a mouth that could make a man think sinful thoughts if he wasn’t careful.

At least until he remembered that she was Martha Collins’s daughter and that she was more than likely connected to the murder.

He paid for the dinner. “Business.”

“Whatever you say, Sheriff.” But the speculative look in Hakeem’s eyes didn’t bode well. He’d talk to his wife, Shari, about the sheriff picking up a meal for two that a woman called in, and Shari would be off and telling her three sisters about it, and by tomorrow morning, the entire town would know. He’d always thought the prayer phone chain was more for gossip than actual prayer, and how fast news got around only served to confirm that. It was mostly harmless, but he didn’t need folk focusing on his supposed romantic entanglements—especially when they were complete fiction.

There was nothing to do, though. The more he protested, the more likely Hakeem was to believe he was protesting too much. So he just took the bag and headed for the B&B. He went in the side door because Dolores was just as likely to mention to anyone who’d listen that the sheriff was heading up to her lady boarder’s room. Zach loved this town. He really did. But there were days when it was damned inconvenient to live here.

He knocked on Eden’s door, and she must have been waiting because it opened immediately. He stepped into the room, struck that he’d never had cause to be in the B&B’s actual rooms. Dolores had several brunches throughout the year where she pulled out all the stops and basically fed whoever showed up—which was, more often than not, half of Clear Springs—but only guests used the actual rooms.

Eden closed the door behind him, and he got his first good look at her. Zach stopped short. She looked like she’d run a marathon that she hadn’t the slightest bit of training for—exhausted and drawn. If she’s not involved, it couldn’t have been easy to face Martha again after all these years. It most likely would have been a combination of psychological and emotional warfare, and a person didn’t walk away from that unscathed.

And I’m the reason she was there in the first place.

He didn’t trust her. He couldn’t with the current situation. But his gut said that while she was connected in some way, Eden wasn’t responsible for Elouise’s death.

Zach held up the bag. “I brought food.”

She didn’t move from the door. Her hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail, and she’d changed at some point into a pair of yoga pants and a loose shirt. He very carefully kept his eyes on her face. “Eden?”

“Did you have one of your people go through my stuff?”

Her question had him rocking back on his heels. “What?”

“My stuff.” She motioned to her open suitcase sitting on the floor next to the bed. “I know you don’t trust me, Zach, but this is a little extreme, even for this town.”

He held up a hand. “Hold on. If by a little extreme, you mean highly illegal—yeah, it is. I might bend the rules on occasion, but that’s crossing a very clear line.” He looked around the room again. It had been child’s play for him to get up here without alerting Dolores. Anyone could have done the same thing. “You kept your door locked while you were out?”